1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic debiting system for automatically debiting (including prepayment by prepaid cards and settlement by IC cards or credit cards) tolls against vehicles traveling a toll road, etc., or vehicles passing through a tollgate.
2. Description of the Related Arts
A variety of systems have hitherto been proposed in order to debit tolls against vehicles traveling a toll road. FIG. 2 illustrates an external appearance of such a system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Pub. No. Hei 4-34684.
A vehicle 10 is shown just about to enter a tollgate. Entry of the vehicle 10 into the tollgate is optically detected by vehicle separators 12 and 14 provided at the entrance of the tollgate, and an automatic toll collector 30 is informed of the detection. To also optically detect the entry of the vehicle 10, vehicle separators 16 and 18 are disposed on a downstream side of the vehicle separators 12 and 14. These two pairs of vehicle separators 12, 14 and 16, 18 cooperate with each other so that when a plurality of vehicles 10 enter the tollgate in tandem, individual vehicles can be separated and that the direction of entry of the entered vehicles can be properly recognized.
On the downstream side of the vehicle separators 16 and 18 overhang detectors 20 and 21 are further disposed as well as vehicle length detectors 24 and 26, each serving to optically detect the entry of the vehicle 10. In accordance with the output of the overhang detectors 20 and 22, the automatic toll collector 30 detects the presence or absence of the front overhang of the vehicle 10 to identify the types of vehicles (identification of whether the vehicle 10 is, for example, a bus or car). The automatic toll collector 30 also detects the length of the vehicle 10 (vehicle length) on the basis of the output of the vehicle length detectors 24 and 26. A camera 28 is located on a downstream side of the vehicle length detectors 24 and 26, and photographs a front number plate or license plate of the vehicle which is entering the tollgate.
In the case of this system, the vehicle driver pays the toll in cash to the automatic toll collector 30 when the vehicle 10 reaches the collector 30. The instant the toll is collected, downstream toll bars 32 and 34 are opened. On the downstream side of the toll bars 32 and 34 two pairs of vehicle separators 36, 38 and 40, 42 are situated, serving to prevent following vehicles from passing through the toll bars 32 and 34 without paying tolls while the bars 32 and 34 are open.
For the execution of such system, however, a tollgate must be provided for permitting incoming vehicles to pass through one by one. To provide such a tollgate, the toll road needs to be of the interchange type, not a main road type. This will limit the place where this system can be executed to a place allowing provision of the interchange. Also, provision of the tollgate will necessitate additional costs for installation, maintenance, management, etc., (for example, including facility construction costs and labor costs). Depending on the environment, the provision of the tollgate may give rise to traffic jams, since the tollgate blocks high-speed passage therethrough. Particular attention must be paid to application of the above-described toll debiting system to superhighways so that the introduction of the toll debiting system does not bar high-speed traffic which is an original object of providing the superhighways. However, a tollgate is indispensable to the above debiting system. If the provision of the tollgate inevitably results in the occurrence of traffic jams, it would be difficult to apply the above debiting system to superhighways.
One of the major objects when providing the tollgate lies in secure debiting against each vehicle and in detection of vehicles paying no tolls. In the above-described prior art example, the entry of a vehicle, the direction thereof, the type of the vehicle, the vehicle length, etc., are detected and identified by the optical means arranged on each tollgate. The detection and identification by use of such means owe to the fact that each lane is provided with one tollgate. With similar optical detecting means (e.g., photoelectric switches) were arranged across a plurality of lanes, it would be impossible to distinguish and separate a plurality of vehicles moving side by side. For this reason, it hitherto been impossible to do away with the tollgate.